Student Participation in the College

Student Participation in the College Classroom

Sociology attempts to understand the connections and relationships between individuals and the social environment around them. Individuals within the setting of a classroom environment have their own unique mannerisms and behaviors for that particular environment, which is shown in David a. Karp and William C. Yoes' article "Student Participation in the College Classroom." This study shows that there are unique behaviors seen only in the context of a college classroom which still relate to each individual's thought processing in that classroom at any given time.

Students of all race and genders all share the same environment in classrooms across the country. The details of that environment might change depending on subjects studied and a professor's lecturing styles, but essentially the classroom environment is typical. Despite the fact that the classroom seems to stay universal, most students have very different reasons for their behavior, or lack of behavior, within classroom walls. Each student, depending on variables such as race and gender, reacts differently to that universal environment.

The study shows the reasons behind college student's lack of class room participation based on the relationships they have with their fellow classmates as well as their teachers. Researchers based their findings on surveys given to both male and female students which showed different reasons for their quietness in class. It is interesting that male and female students each have their own justifications for not speaking in class; the majority of males said it was due to their admission of not doing the assigned work, while most females justified that they did not know the subject material well enough to speak publicly in class. This shows the very different justifications for the same type of behavior seen in students all over the country. Each student, based on his or her own unique background will have different ways of behaving and different justifications for that behavior as well.